Friday, July 18, 2008

Jim Smith needs a cleanup artist

Jim Smith is just about the most talented artist I've worked with. His drawings leave me in awe. They are solid and funny at the same time.Jim is doing some dynamite design and layouts on the George Show and I want to give him some help. I don't want to waste his time cleaning up his own roughs when he could be doing more drawings. The more Jim drawings in the cartoons, the more fun they will be!He has a very specific elusive style and I need an assistant who has a natural eye for solid manly drawings and good perspective.There are a lot of subtleties in Jim's style and I want to capture those.You have to be really careful when putting a clean line down on his drawings that it doesn't flatten them out. No mechanical straight lines or even curves. Solid and organic at the same time.The best way for a young cartoonist to break into the business is to be able to clean up the work of a star. You absorb a lot of information by osmosis. ( although we wouldn't turn down someone with experience either.)

This is how all the old cartoon animators learned their craft and why the cartoons kept getting better and better over the years.

Now so much of the important creative work is sent overseas or done in flash, that we don't have much apprenticeship opportunity left.

I would ideally like to have an artist who lives in LA, but if you are really good and live elsewhere we can try the email thing.

I would jump at the chance to do this and would gladly do it for free.However, I have no experience and would never be considered for the job. What I would really like to see is a post on the mechanics that are involved with the day to day. And some more images to play with.Surely there are others that would like to play pretend that we get to work on this stuff for a living?

You as in George-manly? George is very manly, no doubt. But what about the other stuff? Is that toaster manly, or is it just a toaster? (And BTW, if you're talking about solid construction....I've seen some solidly constructed women in my day, let me tell you...)

G'day John,I'm gonna try cleaning up some of these today, they're great!!!! I'll let you know. Looks like it's gonna be the most awsomest cartoons ever!!!! jejeje it looks like it's coming along thick and fast!!!can't wait to see it!!

I've tried cleaning up the Jim Smith drawings, they are so good!! especially the kitchen one and the one of him on the couch with his wifes arse on the wall and him with a kind of satisfied face....I love it... anyway you can have a look here you or anyone can pick out their faults and say what I have done wrong... if we can all benefit from my mistakes,it's all good to me.

Hey John I sent you a message earlier talking how I put some drawings up on my blog. There not on thery're now because im having trouble will my blog right now so ill post everything again soon when its working.

BTW, Wikipedia says you were working on something with Bakshi called Bobby's Girl, a "1950s teen comedy". I love all things from the 50s, and would totally love to see something like that succeed. Did you ever think about reviving that project?

I'm writing in response to the position available as a clean up artist for Jim Smith. I'm interested in this position because Jim's loose style reminds me so much of my own. I can pick out the nuances and the strongest forms from these gestures and deliver something functional. I would love the opportunity to apprentice and learn under a more experienced artist. I would be greatly humbled if you took a look at my blog;

alexapp.blogspot.com.

I have some examples of my own penciled work and some finished stuff I've done. Thanks for your time and consideration.

I'm gonna try, but first I have to get some MEAT! I'll start with a light steak, and move on to some ribs. Then, if I still feel I need it, maybe a local application of some raw sausage will do the trick. I'll let you know when they're ready.

My name is Damon lee and I’ve been involved in the New Zealand animation industry for over fifteen years.I would love the chance to work on your show and would like to submit some clean up examples.I couldn’t find an address on your blog site to send my work.Could you please send me an email address or inform me of some other way to contact you.I am looking to relocate to the states some time next year.Much appreciated.